Strawberry Martini
Step One, Strawberry
A/N: Hello su! Hmm, I'm really lost for words at the moment, but I bring a new AU story on Ichigo and Rukia! So, enjoy! I wanted to say one last thing, its kind of long, so please bear with me su!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach su.
Light filtered through the uncovered windows of an apartment. The light showered slowly over the wooden floors, which had dull brown boxes stacked upon each other. The kitchen was still with freshly bought food still in their bags, sitting on the counter. The bedroom of the apartment was a bit cluttered with books stacked so high, it looked like it would fall. There was tall faded purple lamp sitting near the door way, with a suitcase lying beside it and box of plush toys. Near the window, there was a soft red recliner; to the right of the wall was a black table that had paperwork and an alarm clock sitting there. Finally, to the right was a queen sized mattress with a big lump in the middle, which was covered by a white blanket. The lump began to stir as the sunshine embraced the room with its bright light.
Rukia began to wake up, as she felt warm rays hit her blanket, she hadn't put up the curtains in her apartment yet. Wait a minute, her apartment! She had got a new apartment that her brother helped her buy, and she had just moved in yesterday night. Rukia sat up in bed with bed hair; she looked at her surroundings and gave a happy sigh. She was free from the clutches of her over protective brother, and was free to live out her life as she wanted. First thing though, time to take a shower. Rukia clambered out of bed and headed to the bathroom. It wasn't very big but that was fine, since she was living by herself.
She turned on the water, and stripped off her chappy pajamas, and went into the shower. As she thought of what she was going to do later, she remembered her brother bidding her goodbye first night.
(Flashback)
"Thank you so much Nii-sama!"Rukia laughed happily as she bear hugged her brother.
Byakuya gave a sigh and looked at his little sister, "Your welcome Rukia." He paused and turned serious, "You have to be more serious now Rukia, your living on your own, and I won't be here to help you if anything happens."
Rukia stopped laughing and stared at her brother, 'being so damn protective again'
"Nii-sama, I can handle myself now. You've never exposed me to things in life, and now its time I do, I think I can handle my own life."
Byakuya looked at his little sister, well, maybe not so little anymore.
"I suppose your right. But this is a new city, new people; things are a little different then in Karakura."
"You don't think I know that? Nii-sama, please, just for once, let me start fresh without a guide, I can do this! And you know what? I already got a job here!"
Byakuya looked at Rukia surprised, "You've gotten a job already?"
"Yes."
"What kind of job is it?"
Rukia fidgeted a little, she knew her brother wouldn't approve of the job she had, seeing that he expected her to work at an office or something.
"Well?" Byakuya asked impatiently.
"I'm bartender at Sereitei lounge."
"Rukia, you know I don't like the idea of you being surrounded in alcohol."
"Nii-sama, have you ever seen me drink? Besides I'm talented at making drinks, plus I know about most of them, not to mention I'm the bartender in the most elegant lounge in town!"
Byakuya shook his head in chide, "I don't agree with you, but if that's how it is, I suppose it would be alright, seeing that you precaution yourself with-"
"Nii-sama!"
Byakuya looked at his little sisters pouting face, "Fine, do as you please, I have to go now, I have a meeting tomorrow."Byakuya turned to leave he walked out of the door stiff and with that expressionless face.
Rukia followed him all the way to the door. "Good Bye Nii-sama."
Byakuya turned to look at her, "Good bye Rukia, and please be careful."
Rukia chuckled and nodded her as she closed the door.
(End of Flashback)
Rukia gave sigh as she came out of the shower, her brother did have a point. She shrugged off what he said and went to get dressed, she came back out of her room in her work clothes, since today was first day at work, she decided to get there early and get familiar with the people there. The uniform was actually very comfortable and cute in its own way. It was a white blouse; its sleeves were all the way to the elbow with small cuffs on it. The bottom of it was a double-u shape. The next piece was a red scarf that was supposedly to tie loosely around the neck, and then there was a black mini vest. Rukia was given two pairs of bottoms, one a black skirt and second black pants. It fit perfectly and was very classy looking and at the same time attractive. Rukia chuckled as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her boss really knew how to dress, what was her name, Oh that's right, Yoruichi Shihouin.
Rukia walked over to the kitchen and sorted some of the food in the bags. She decided to go out and buy something from the little café across the street. Rukia grabbed her purse, it was shaped like a rabbit head, it was black and had a red tie on one of its ears. Rukia always had a thing for rabbits, for some reason. She stuffed her wallet, keys, and other junk in it.
Stepping down the stairs she looked at her cell phone, it read seven forty. She was pretty early, so she decided to kick back and relax at the café. Rukia walked out to the sidewalks, where there were people here and there, she crossed the street and finally reached the café, she ordered coffee and pastry, she sat back in the soft olive green padding, and noticed the newspaper in front of her, it didn't seem to belong to anybody so she opened it up reading the comics, waiting for her tid bits.
34435
Not too far from Rukia's apartment, was a very expensive looking condo. With glass doors at the entrance, and security everywhere. Inside the condo was a floor of marble and steel elevators to the center, a lovely place fit for the rich, or at least people with great job. An elevator door opened and out stepped a man with bright orange hair. He wore a black t-shirt, with a jean jacket. He wore black colored pants and was carrying a messenger bag that probably held a laptop and other stuff.
One of the security guards looked up at the man and nodded his head,
"Good morning Kurosaki-kun."
"Morning Tobi san."
The orange haired man made his way outside walking with hands in his pocket, suddenly his phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Ichigo my son!!! Goood Mourrnniinggg!!!"
"Do you have to call me every day?" Ichigo growled into his phone.
"Aww, don't be like that! It's lonely without you, just Yuzu and Karinn and me!"
Ichigo continued to listen to his father ramble on until he was near the café he went to everyday.
"I'm hanging up now." Ichigo said.
"What?! Alread-"
Ichigo closed his phone and entered the warm café. He took a quick observation around the area, all the normal people he usually saw were here, except the girl near the corner she was new. What did he care anyways, he too the table in the center, and ordered coffee to go.
Rukia looked up from her newspaper, to see a man with outrageous orange hair, but that was the only feature she saw of him, since her order arrived. Rukia ate her pastry quickly and got up bringing her coffee, guess it was time to go to work.
Ichigo got his coffee and headed towards the door, he bumped into the girl he saw earlier, though it was on accident, he couldn't see her very well since she was kind of short.
"Hey!"
"Oh, sorry." Ichigo said carelessly as he brought up his hand as he left, without even looking at her.
"Oh, that jerk!" Rukia grumbled, she made her way to her car, her car was a dark blue Subaru Impreza, it wasn't the best car around but it was perfect for her. She drove down a few blocks and hopped on the freeway making her way into the busiest part of the city. She parked her car and headed for the building where she worked.
She walked up to a interesting building, It had heavy wooden doors, with a simple sign on the top saying, Sereitei Lounge, in shiny silver lettering. Rukia took a moment to observe the sign; she shrugged and entered the door.
"Ah, Rukia you're here early."
Rukia turned around to see her boss, "Hello Yoruichi."
"So… why so early? Your shift doesn't begin until six." Yoruichi asked curious.
"I thought I'd get familiar with everyone here and know where all the ingredients are."
Yoruichi gave a smile, "Aren't you smart? You're going to have a hell of a time here."
Rukia looked at Yoruichi curiously, "What?"
Yoruichi smirked at her, "Never mind, hold on for a minute." Yoruichi walked off to the back without waiting for Rukia's response.
"Ok?" Rukia sighed and took a seat next to a table.
She examined the room carefully; she didn't really have time to look the day earlier since she was busy, so she gazed at the first room. Yes the first room, right after you enter the entrance there is marble counter in between the two doors at the left and right. There were a few red couches sitting to the side. She guessed this was the lobby thing, where people would pay to get in, and of coarse where people were checked for their ids, just in case. She had yet to see the main area of the lounge, actually the lounge was club also, but again she didn't have time to look around the interior.
"So! This is our new bartender eh?!"
Rukia turned around to see Yoruichi walking back into the room with a man and lady with glasses.
"Rukia, this is Urahara Kisuke, owner of the lounge." Yoruichi said as Urahara walked up to Rukia with a smile.
"Oh, hello Urahara." Rukia said while looking at him, he had a blonde hair, and was quite tall; he wore a white shirt with a green tie, and black pants.
Urahara laughed, "Please Kuchiki, no need to be formal! Welcome to the lounge, I have to say I was quite pleased with your resume!"
Rukia blushed a little, "Thank you…"
Yoruichi shoved passed Urahara, "Ok then, now this lady over here…" Yoruichi presented the girl with glasses, her hair was slick and was brought up carefully, it was clean and proper. "Is Nanao Ise, she works here at the desk, making sure people coming here are legal to come in."
Nanao looked at Rukia with a small smile, "It's nice to meet you."
"Uh…same here!" Rukia said.
"Now then, Nanao is going to show you around the whole building so you be a good girl and good luck."
Yoruichi and Urahara exited through the door, their footstep sounds gently going away, leaving Nanao and Rukia standing there alone.
"So Rukia, I'm sure you'll need to know where you work." Nanao asked.
Rukia looked at Nanao; she was dressed the same as her, except she had a pencil skirt on.
"Um yeah."
Nanao smiled, "It's a good thing you came early, there's a lot to cover before tonight starts."
"Well, actually I just woke up kind of early this morning!" Rukia smirked at Nanao.
Nanao smiled even bigger, "Either way, that a good thing…so follow me I'll lead you to where all the fun is."
"Ok!" Rukia followed Nanao through the red doors.
Rukia was surprised she didn't notice the inside the other day, it was simply gorgeous. The first floor was marbled black, with red sofas, and chairs, along with see through glass tables. To the left was where, she supposed, where all the partying and dancing belonged. It was huge with only few stage lights to provide light on the dance floor. The ceiling was glowing like stars with a extreme dark blue background accompanied with small glowing spots, making it look like stars. There was a dj stand with very expensive looking equipment, speakers sided all corners of the dance floor, it was the ultimate place for the party of a lifetime.
"Um, wow." Rukia said speechless.
Nanao chuckled, "Its nice, but sometimes it get a little crazy in here, and Our Dj is Hisagi Shuhei and Kira Izuru."
Rukia hesitated for a moment, "Are they the wild type of people?"
Nanao looked at her surprised, "No, their actually really calm like." Nanao looked at Rukia's slightly worried face, "Don't worry Rukia, everybody who works here is very kind."
Rukia smiled at Nanao, "So where do I work?"
"Come this way Rukia." Nanao instructed as she led her towards an elevator.
"This elevator leads to where all the drinks are served, where you will be working, there's entertainment up there too, but not like down here."
"Oh, if all the drinks are served up there, how so people get their drinks down here?"
"Don't worry about that, we someone who brings the drinks down here." Nanao said patting Rukia on the back, "Well let's go up."
"Oh." was all Rukia could say, as she entered the elevator.
"Upstairs is where most of our older customers come to; it's also a spot to cool down from all the excitement." Nanao said, apparently she knew plenty about the place.
The elevator doors opened letting in a cool scent of vanilla waft through.
"This is where I'm supposed to work?!" Rukia gasped.
"Is there something wrong with it?" Nanao looked at Rukia.
"No! It's just… gorgeous!"
"Well then, that's good!" Nanao chuckled.
Rukia stepped on to the soft cream colored marble. The furniture was a blend of white and light red, much like downstairs, except it looked much more elegant. There were polished black round tables around the sofas, and there near the right was a small pillar of stairs (Five steps) with a black grand piano, there was a black curtain behind it, Rukia guessed that's where the musicians took their breaks as well as other instruments. Straight ahead was an extremely wide balcony that had lovely city view.
"Rukia!"
"Huh?" Rukia turned to see Nanao in the left corner, standing beside the bar.
"Oh wow, so this is where?" Rukia asked hesitantly.
Nanao nodded her head, "This is our bar, stocked with the best ingredients as well as plenty of workspace for you."
Rukia walked into the area, She was fascinated by the beautiful bottles that surrounded her, she didn't like to drink very much, in fact she almost never drank, unless she was testing out how her drinks turned out, but that didn't really count since it would always be a small sip.
Nanao chuckled as she watched Rukia shuffle through all the liquor, "So Rukia, how do you feel?"
Rukia looked up and smiled, "Great, this place is nice, and it seems like a relaxing place!"
"Your right, it is, but it tends to get extremely busy, and your our only bartender, so be prepared!" Nanao smiled.
"Bring it on!" Rukia said excited already.
"That's the spirit, well I think I'm going to go now, I've showed you most of the areas already, I'll tell the other workers here to meet you, they'll be coming shortly after four, so go take a nap or something." Nanao teased at the last part and waved to Rukia before leaving through the elevator.
Later on that afternoon, several people came up to greet Rukia, Like instance, a woman whose was Rangiku Matsumoto, she was very sweet and sister like, second was Toshiro Hitsugaya, he played the saxophone here as one of the musicians, the Djs Nanao mentioned earlier came too, they were very nice. There were other people but they just worked in the small areas.
Finally when the clock hit six, Rukia could see the sky turning dark blue, and voices gathering from outside the balcony, she guessed it was time the lounged open. And right she was, she could hear music softly starting from beneath her, she could feel the vibrations from the bottom of her feet. Two hours later, many people started to come up and was when she got busy, she had to serve their drinks as well as make drinks form orders downstairs, that Matsumoto brought up, Matsumoto knew how to make some drinks also and helped filled some orders for Rukia.
Rukia gave a sigh, she was exhausted, it was already ten twenty-six, and the good thing was that the orders slowed down so Rukia had a breather. Rukia looked at the people around her, obviously enjoying them selves; Rukia averted her gaze to Hitsugaya who was playing some jazz music on the pillar. When he finished, he smiled out to everyone who started to clap.
"Thank you very much, now for the rest of the night, I bring you Kurosaki Ichigo! The pianist!"
Rukia watched Hitsugaya walked behind the curtain, a few moments later, a man came out of the curtains, Rukia gasped, he was the guy from this morning, she'd recognized that outrageous orange hair he had. Rukia gave a low growl of annoyance. But when she took a better look at him, he was actually pretty handsome. Wearing a black uniform and a red tie, he looked very sharp. And his music, Rukia nearly melted at sounds he was making from the piano.
Rukia shook her head, what was she thinking, this arrogant guy was the one who bumped into her, and was up with his name, Ichigo?! Rukia growled and turned to the counter behind her facing away from Ichigo. There currently no orders, so she decided to shine some glasses, mumbling angrily. She could hear the song end, and plenty of women cheering behind her. She gave snort and picked up another glass to shine.
"You go Ichigo!"
'Idiot.' Rukia thought.
"Ichigo!! Be mine!"
'Damn it all…' Rukia muttered.
The cheering continued, and Rukia was still shining glasses, would someone please order something!
"Excuse me?"
"I'm so sorry sir I-"Rukia turned around eagerly but her face fell, it was that Ichigo guy.
"You!" Rukia sputtered.
"Uh, yeah, can I order something?" Ichigo said annoyed, who was this girl? She was definitely new, and looked vaguely familiar.
"No."
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "And why not?"
"Not until you apologize for this morning." Rukia replied coolly.
Ichigo looked at her for a moment, "Wait…your that I girl I bumped into this morning?"
"Yes." Rukia said stiffly.
"I said sorry already!" Ichigo snorted.
"I wouldn't call that an apology." Rukia glared at him.
"Fine, I'm sorry!" Ichigo said with sarcasm.
Rukia glared at him more, "What do want to drink?"
Ichigo sneered at her, "Whatever's good, doubt anything you make turns out good."
Rukia slapped a towel on the counter, "Oh really? Fine, I have a special drink for you then."She turned around, her back to his face.
Ichigo watched the girl amused, "What's your name?"
Rukia turned her head at him, "None of your concern."
Ichigo growled at her and continued watching her make the drink; he couldn't see exactly what she was making.
Rukia looked along the shelves to see if the ingredients she needed were there, perfect, they had it surprisingly.
"Are you done yet?" Ichigo asked bored.
A few moments later Rukia turned around with a pink colored drink.
"Here you go."
"What is it?" Ichigo asked.
"Strawberry Martini, enjoy strawberry!" Rukia smirked at his face.
"My name means number one, ok? Not a damn berry." Ichigo shot back at her.
"Whatever drink it already." Rukia turned around.
Ichigo brought the drink to his lips, "It's not bad."
Rukia smirked.
"I'll be going now." Ichigo yawned as he stood up.
Rukia turned around and looked at him, Ichigo looked back at Rukia and for a moment blushed, she was actually really pretty looking, what was he thinking? He just met this chick!
"By the way…my names Kuchiki Rukia."
Ichigo looked at Rukia yet again, "Cool, see you later." He turned around and made his way back to the piano bringing the drink with him.
Rukia gave a rather happy sigh,
"Excuse me! Can I have a Pearl Necklace?" a young lady asked from the counter.
"Oh! Ok, coming right up!"
A/N: So, how was it su? I know it was long and all but it will definitely get some good stuff thrown in soon. Thank you for reading! Please R/R su!
Reference (If you want to know):
Pearl Necklace: Vodka, White crème de cacao, and cream, ice.
Strawberry Martini: Sugar, strawberries, strawberry syrup, stoli strassberri vodka
Rukia: 23 years old
Ichigo: 25 years old
